Freshmen: d. Northville 28-14
JV: d. Northville 10-7

Varsity 2008 record: 2-0 (1-0 SEC)

Before the pre-game meal, Nick Hill is focused on the tastiness that is to come.

After a thrillingly inconsistent week 1 victory over Ann Arbor Huron, Chelsea prepared to face Northville, a team it had never before faced in nearly 80 years of football history.  A few minutes on the internet yielded one crucial bit of information about this heretofore unknown opponent: its mascot was the Mustang.  (It was not immediately clear whether it was intended to be the American feral horse, the American feral sports car or a tribute to the enduring blues classic Mustang Sally.  Traditionalists argued for the first option, car lovers for the second, and legendary blues musician B.B. King for the third; B.B. King won the argument, because … well, come on, he’s B.B. King.  But niggling copyright issues awarded the victory to the traditionalists and their one-horsepower horses.)  Further research, both on the internet and in real life, yielded a cacophony of information that told me nothing in the form of a little bit of everything:

• Michigan-Football.com told me Northville has posted a halfhearted 29-48 record with only two winning seasons since 2000, including a 1-8 record in 2007; however, those winning seasons were 8-4 and 7-3 seasons, and those records are nothing to sneeze at … unless you’re allergic to winning records.  And if you are, you should probably get out of the football business, Matt Millen.
• The week 1 results told me Northville defeated Pinckney 27-7; however, considering Pinckney’s woeful 15-58 record since 2000, that told me roughly as much about Northville as Atlanta’s win over Detroit told me about the Falcons: it told me they’re good enough to beat a struggling program (oh, don’t tell me the Lions’ successful preseason had you fooled).  That could place them anywhere from Not Too Shabby to Pretty Darn Excellent, which is a range that probably includes the majority of teams in the state of Michigan — including Chelsea.
• A knowledgeable Chelsea individual told me Northville was “better than we thought they were”; however, since he didn’t tell me how good we thought they were, that nebulous insight merely confirmed the nebulous insight contained in the previous bullet point.  And, for you math majors out there, nebulous + nebulous = too nebulous.  (All you English majors who tuned out at the word “math” can start paying attention again.)

All that nagging nebulosity meant that I arrived at the stadium on Friday with absolutely no idea of what to expect from the Typically Small And Lightly Built American Feral Horses from Northville.  Of course, in light of Chelsea’s Tale of Two Halves performance against Huron (First half: wow!  Second half: whew!), I really wasn’t sure what to expect from the People Noted For Courageous Or Stubborn Tenacity from Chelsea.  But really, in this modern era of statistical and informational overload, it was unique experience to go into a game without a preconceived box that would end up defining the outcome either as a defiance or a confirmation of existing information; instead of the game being used as proof or contradiction of some presumed knowledge, it could stand alone and simply define itself.  The task of writing these recaps makes me appreciate the wealth of information easily available even in the world of high school football, but sometimes I just want to know less; this game gave me that opportunity, and it was refreshing.

Clearly, Blake Blaha knows the answer to your question.

It’s not so much a chin strap as it is a lower-lip strap.

Chelsea received the ball to start the game, and the offense made a quick journey into Northville territory; however, an incomplete pass on fourth down gave Northville the ball with no damage done.  The resulting Mustang drive was notable for two reasons, one of which was very good and one of which was very bad.  First, the good: Northville’s first play was a rush for only one yard, and the tackle was made by senior cornerback Scott Rhodes, who was seeing his first game action since suffering an extraordinarily serious injury near the end of the 2008 baseball season.  Next, the bad: the very next play saw Northville complete a pass to the Chelsea eight yard line, and three plays later, the Mustangs had a 7-0 lead.

“Wait … where did I leave my car keys?”

Steven O’Keefe just wants to stay clear of Jesse Jaynes’ impending act of violence.

Adam Taylor can sack your quarterback … with his mind.

That wasn’t exactly the start the Bulldogs wanted, but Cody Adams returned the Northville kickoff just past midfield, and it seemed like all was right with the world; sadly, the world still had its issues to work through in therapy, so Chelsea gained all of four yards and went three and out.  Fortunately, the world’s issues also stymied Northville’s offense and special teams; after one Mustang first down and a severely wayward 15-yard punt, Chelsea gained possession with excellent field position.  The Bulldogs didn’t squander the field position this time; four plays into the possession, Michael Roberts tied the score with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Jake Mantel.  But this didn’t sit well with the Mustangs, who proceeded to stage an impressive 10-play scoring drive to put Chelsea right back at square -7.

Ah, but that didn’t last even two minutes, as Adams yet again returned the kickoff into Northville territory and, a few plays later, followed that up with a 23-yard touchdown run to yet again tie the score.  And this time it lasted longer than one drive, as Scott Devol intercepted a Northville pass and returned it to the four yard line.  The Mustang defense made Chelsea work for the go-ahead touchdown — Randy Cox had to take it in from the one on fourth down — but with just over three minutes to go in the first half, the Bulldogs finally took the lead for the first time in the game.  A missed extra point meant it was only a six-point lead, but remember: six is more than zero.

Scott Rhodes makes your stiff-arm a noodle-arm.  And then he tackles you.

If it happened at a Chelsea football game, Kenny saw it.  See?  He’s watching right now!

Why yes, Dakota Cooley would love to help you do a somersault.

Northville’s next possession went pretty much nowhere, and Chelsea took possession on the sunny side of the 50 with nearly two minutes to play; however, the Bulldogs gave the ball right back by way of an interception, and Northville had the ball with nearly a minute to put some points on the board.  But there was one small problem: the Mustangs had already used all three timeouts, and they had almost 80 yards to go.  And for you chefs out there, 80 yards, 46 seconds and no timeouts is not the best recipe for success in high school football (although if you added a stick or two of butter, it would be a whole lot tastier).  Northville failed to cross midfield, and the half ended with Chelsea holding a 20-14 lead.

It may look like it, but no, Cody Adams doesn’t use a force field to deter tacklers.

“Do I HAVE to stop hitting when you blow the whistle?”

No, he’s not angry; he’s just determined.

Both offenses continued to stagnate at the beginning of the second half as the opening drives for both teams went backwards.  Northville’s second drive was only a marginal improvement (it didn’t go backwards), but Chelsea’s second drive was a massive improvement, in part thanks to a change of pace at quarterback: Roberts scrambled into Northville territory and, two plays later, hit Michael Lenneman with a 45-yard touchdown pass to extend Chelsea’s lead to 27-14.  Life was good, and it seemed to be getting better; Northville’s next drive stalled, and Chelsea took over and began to drive down the field again.  But a personal foul on Chelsea brought the drive to an abrupt halt at the end of the third quarter, and thanks to a fourth and 21, the first play of the fourth quarter was a Chelsea punt.

And … yeah, that didn’t go so well.  Not for Chelsea, anyway.  Northville blocked the punt and took over on the Chelsea 30 and was all excited and stuff because, you know, punt blocks are exciting and stuff.  That excitement continued as Northville quickly drove inside the ten yard line, but as the Mustangs soon discovered, excitement is not a loyal emotion: the Chelsea defense stood tall and stopped Northville on fourth and goal from the one, and every bit of excitement switched sidelines.  It got worse for Northville as the referee called a personal foul after the play, and instead of starting from the one yard line, the Bulldogs took possession at the 16.  Chelsea didn’t score on its drive, but it took almost five minutes off the clock before it had to punt.

Spirit fingers now; jazz hands later.

Where’s Kyle Coburn?

There’s Kyle Coburn!

Northville took over with two and a half minutes to play and a dire need to score immediately.  Something did happen immediately, but it wasn’t a score; instead, it was a fumble that Chelsea recovered at the Northville 2.  It looked like Chelsea was going to put the game out of reach once and for all, but as always, looks can be deceiving: Chelsea fumbled the ball back on the very next play, and Northville was right back in business.  Very desperate business to be sure, but business nonetheless.  And that business was somewhat successful, but not really: Northville scored to narrow the gap, but it took two minutes to do so, leaving only 20 seconds on the clock.  The Mustangs’ first onside kick attempt was cut short due to an offsides call, and the second attempt was recovered by Chelsea; two plays (and one Northville timeout) later, the game was done, and Chelsea had a 27-20 victory.

Leftovers:

• In his first football action since being cleared to play, Rhodes finished with four solo tackles and one assist.
• Nick Hill didn’t play, though he was dressed and cleared to play.  His absence was again described as precautionary; he should see action against Saline.
• As usual, the Chelsea offense was outgained; this time it was 331 to 245, and it probably didn’t help that Northville ran 15 more plays than Chelsea.  But yet again, Chelsea produced more points than its opponent, and that’s the only metric that matters at the end of the game.

Next week:
The Bulldogs face the Very Angry 0-2 Hornets of Saline; the game is in Saline at 7:00 on Friday. If you can’t be there, the game will be streamed live on the internet as part of the Great American Rivalry Series.